When developing proposals to NSF, researchers are strongly encouraged to consider tenets of the Science Plan, especially the Grand Challenges, Key Research Questions and examples of needed research.

The Science Plan is the product a multidisciplinary effort. NHERI's Network Coordination Office (NCO) and the NHERI Council of Awardees appointed a task group comprising distinguished researchers and practitioners, all active in the field. The NHERI awardees also contributed to the plan, including the NCO.

The resulting document serves as a roadmap pointing to highly productive areas of study over the next five years. The plan also ensures that natural hazards engineers in related disciplines work efficiently together to achieve their common research goals -- all aimed at improving the resilience against natural hazards of the civil infrastructure and communities.

The Science Plan describes Grand Challenges, Key Research Questions and examples of needed research to mitigate damage from earthquakes, wind storms, storm surge and tsunamis. Appendices describe the NHERI experimental facilities and examples of research that can be conducted at each site. The NHERI CyberInfrastructure and SimCenter are described in the appendices, too.

"We urge all natural hazards engineers to review the plan," says Billy Edge, professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University. "We are eager to see additions to the plan's example research topics â€“ especially novel, interdisciplinary research that will lead to new knowledge about civil infrastructure performance under loads from hazards like wind, waves, and earthquakes."

The Science Plan was created with input from all the NHERI awardees and with broad community-based participation from earthquake, wind, and coastal engineering professionals, as well as engineering education experts. During a public comment period, the document was reviewed by the various NHERI stakeholders.

A living document, the plan is periodically assessed and updated. A revised edition of The Science Plan will be published by July 1.

About NHERI. The Natural Hazard Engineering Research Infrastructure is funded by multiple NSF awards. NHERI engineers are dedicated to reducing risk from natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, windstorms and storm surge. Details at DesignSafe-CI.

Contacts:

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Director, NHERI NCOProfessor of Civil EngineeringPurdue University

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Professor of Civil, Construction, and Environmental EngineeringNorth Carolina State University

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Rutherford + Chekene Consulting Engineers

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